Ideas on Low Profile Racing/Sport Seats (Cheap too)

I have been looking for what seems like forever for a pair of low profile seats for my Lancia.  There are a few problems/requirements that I have.  First of all, I am 6'2" and mid-200#.  The stock seats in it are at my limit for headroom.  See my hat sticking up here:

The stock seats are very low profile from the floor pan to the top of the bottom cushion and I still don't have any extra headroom.

The challenges:
- The side bolsters cannot be too tall.  It is hard enough to climb in and out of this.

-If I need to drop the floor pan an inch or so, that can be done.  Rusty floor pans were repaired sometime ago under the seat. To cut that back out and drop it would be pretty easy.

- I don't need to have sliders.  I have the seat all of the way back against the rear firewall and could use even more room.

- My interior is tan.  I really can't change it to black and don't think that would go well with the green anyway.

- Prefer cloth or leather.  Not vinyl.

These look like they would work but they are not available in tan and for vinyl they are $738/pair.  

I would like to find some tan cloth OE seats for $500/pair.  Most OE seats these days are pretty tall from their mounts to the seating surface.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Scott

Something like this?

I kid. Beautiful car. I wish I was more helpful.

I just wanted to let you know I'm looking at your Lancia with a lustfull eye. 

I cannot comment on measurements or color availability, but here are a list of OEM seats that I like.

SRT4, S2000, RSX-S, prelude, GTI, Impreza

If you are willing to do some fabrication and forgo sliders you could probably make any of them work.  The S2000 seats are the only ones that will come close to breaking your budget.

Lotus Elise seats would work but definitely out of the budget. 

I’m going through something similar with my Triumph TR6 project. I’ve decided to go with a rollbar and Kirkey seats mounted directly to the floor. Can’t get any lower than that LOL

One very nice (and fairly affordable) option I’ve looked into is Intatrim UK. They make custom seats with VERY low profiles for Caterhams and such. They offer several styles and tons of options. You could, for example, get tan leather to match your interior with green piping to tie in with the exterior color. Prices are about $800 for a pair, including shipping from the UK. 

Besides that, you can go with the “old standby” of Porsche 914 seats. 

pushrod36 said:

I cannot comment on measurements or color availability, but here are a list of OEM seats that I like.

SRT4, S2000, RSX-S, prelude, GTI, Impreza

If you are willing to do some fabrication and forgo sliders you could probably make any of them work.  The S2000 seats are the only ones that will come close to breaking your budget.

I have looked at a couple of those but have not been able to find them in tan.  I'll try those listed and see.

Thanks!

914 seats would likely work. 

Most modern stuff is going to be too tall, because modern cars, even ones that appear small, are quite tall.  You also have to consider the shape of the floorpan.  I am working on a 67 Camaro, and had a nice set of Integra seats in black leather, so I figured  I would use them.  Not a chance.  Too wide, too tall, and the seat riser was completely different from what the seat needed.

Can you just take the slider mechanism out of the stock seats?  Might pick up a couple of inches that way.

I have no experience with them, but keep looking at the Cobra Historic seats variations for ideas for cars that don't have much room... IIRC some are pretty compact.

In reply to Scott_H :

Miata seats possibly?

Older Recaro seats are less than two inches thick and have a flat frame bottom. Finding a set in tan won't be easy. Early 90s VW 2.0 GTI seats are similar in construction, but I don't recall seeing them in tan either.  

Edit: I suspect E21 & E30 BMW seats may be similar,too.

Have you tried Quadratec for Jeep CJ-5/7/8 seats?

They have low back ones too. 

Do you have pictures of the current seats?  

In reply to DeadSkunk :

The VW mounting setup would be a bit tricky to adapt to his needs though. 

In reply to Pete Gossett :

The 2 liter seats were mounted on electric tracks and were flat bottomed, not that extended frame that the regular GTIs had. I've got a pair and they sit flat on the floor.

The Jeep seats don't appear to have any lateral support.

I know of a few people who have shaved some of the foam from the seat bottom cushion if head room is the only issue.  That may make some extra fabric that would have to be taken in but that is an option.

I don't need sliders so one idea is to directly bolt them to the floor.  I am OK with that.

Let me get some photos of the current OE seats.

Thanks!
Scott

Procar offers seats in your budget, and they offer tan as an option for many models. But I'm not sure they offer a tan seat within your budget. If you can flex the budget a bit, they've got some decent options in the $300-400/seat range:

Kirkley

I find myself drooling at car seat designs at the GTS Classics site classiccarseats.com

Not cheap but they've got some great seats!     

Yeah, those too.  Kirkey or Ultrashield aluminum seats.

If you feel like modifying a stock seat to lower it, take a look at a Miata seat. The "turtle shell" area on the seat pan could be cut out, as well as the corresponding foam, and weld some flat sheet in its place to yield a flat bottomed seat. They're pretty common units and narrow to boot. Just an idea.

Beautiful Lancia.

Stock Miata seats in tan leather might work.  With a foamectomy, you can get pretty low.  I don't find them to be very comfortable though, and the leather is paper thin and prone to cracking.

I have a friend who put Porsche 914 seats into his Miata.  They fit great, nice and low and super comfortable.

I have a Kirkey style 47 in my Miata.  On the track they're not safe without a back brace going to something structural, not sure about street use.  With a custom mounting bracket I'm sitting as low to the floor as possible, and it's surprisingly comfortable.  I wasn't shy about cutting off corners with an angle grinder to fit around the door cards and roll bar, and with the seat cover on you'd never know it was modified.  It is a bit of a pain to get in/out of the car, but you could easily cut the door-side thigh support lower to minimize the issue.  I know there are custom covers for them, you could probably find one that matches your interior pretty well.

These look pretty low profile. Wonder what shipping runs.

http://www.jkcomposites.com

Ransom said:

I have no experience with them, but keep looking at the Cobra Historic seats variations for ideas for cars that don't have much room... IIRC some are pretty compact.

I have two of those, and am willing to sell them.  

Used them for a few years in my GTV, and I didn't fit that well- the seat back angle is pretty far back for an Italian car, so I had to raise the rear...

Anyway, if anyone wants them, shoot me a note.  I forgot to contact a fellow poster about 8 years ago....